Slogans shouted by encroachers during eviction drive in Assam same as that by protesters in Bangladesh: Himanta

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday alleged the slogans raised by encroachers in Kochutoli village at the time of an eviction drive, which led to violence, were the same as that of protesters in Bangladesh during the recent turmoil in the neighbouring country.

“The slogans were the same as those used in Bangladesh by the protesters; they stopped train movement and most of them, including women and children, had sharp weapons and sticks,” Sarma said on the sidelines of a programme here.

If adequate police reinforcement had not been rushed to the spot immediately, “the situation would have turned worse”, he said.

A team from Sonapur circle office and the police had recently gone to Kochutoli village to evict Bengali-speaking Muslim villagers, who had previously been removed from the encroached land, but had again returned, officials had said.

The villagers, including women, had attacked the officials and policemen with sharp weapons, sticks and stones, they said. The police opened fire to disperse the mob.

Two people were injured in the firing and taken to Sonapur district hospital, where they succumbed to injuries while several others, including 22 government officials and police personnel, were injured in the violence, the officials said.

Sarma said the law related to the tribal belt and block was promulgated when Gopinath Bordoloi was the first Congress chief minister in 1950, and this particular area has been under that belt and block since then.

Eviction in the area will continue and “we will clear the tribal belt and block of all encroachment by doubtful illegal settlers”, the CM asserted.

“There has been encroachment by people who do not belong to any tribe and are not even landless. They have land as well as their names in the voter list,” Sarma said.

Describing the modus operandi of the settlers, the chief minister said they gradually enter an area and soon become “a vote bank of around four to five thousand while within a few more years, the area becomes a block of around 25,000 people”.

“A few among them then get into politics and do not allow eviction, while political parties also raise opposition that the voters will be disappointed with them,” Sarma said.

These settlers are usually brought by brokers in exchange of money, and the “brokers in Sonapur have been identified. They will be arrested soon”, he said.

The CM had earlier in the day said it was the Congress that had declared the land was reserved for tribals.

“Now, when we are clearing the land occupied by illegal settlers, it is they who are instigating people to come out and attack the officials and police personnel on duty,” Sarma alleged.

Talking to reporters, Leader of the Opposition in Assam assembly Debabrata Saikia had claimed that Sarma violated court orders by not issuing notice for eviction from government land at Sonapur in Kamrup Metropolitan district.

Meanwhile, tension prevailed in the area, with Director General of Police G P Singh visiting the village to take stock of the situation.

Singh said the incident of attack by the villagers on the police was suspected to be a case of “conspiracy” by a certain section, as the eviction was continuing peacefully since Monday.

“Since the last week of August, we have been announcing through public address systems that the villagers should clear the place, and many of them had left along with their belongings,” he said.

Over the last few months, illegal construction in the area was detected and the chief minister's attention was drawn towards it, following which “we were directed to find out the details regarding who the settlers were”, Singh said.

“We coordinated with the district authorities to find out the status of the land, and we were told that it was declared as a tribal belt in 1950 in accordance with the Assam Land Regulation Act, 1886, where only tribals and some protected class of people could reside,” he said.

There were about 300 families of illegal settlers, and since the drive began, 151 families were evicted and 248 bighas of land cleared, the DGP said.

The district police and the railway police have filed cases under relevant sections as “we suspect a conspiracy and that the incident of attack was instigated”, Singh said.

Asked how many arrests have been made so far, the DGP said several people have been detained for interrogation.